


Look'd up in perfect silence

by rambunctiousragamuffin



Series: Lie in Our Graves [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: First Kisses, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 15:04:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6961909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rambunctiousragamuffin/pseuds/rambunctiousragamuffin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was these quiet moments, just between Poe and him, that made Ben realise how lucky he was to have Poe as his best friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Look'd up in perfect silence

**Author's Note:**

> I think it was gwen who pulled me into this hell, so.

It started, as these things were wont to do, with something simple, something small. Just a brief brush of the back of their hands as they both simultaneously reached across the console to flick the ignition switch to put the engines into idle. Ben looked away, through the transparisteel screen, out at the stars stretching through the infinite expanse of space before them. Poe looked at Ben looking away, smiling at the blush adorning the other boy’s cheeks. He had such a pasty pallor that the apples of his cheeks looked like claret velvet in the dim lighting of the cockpit.

He could sense Poe staring at him, and Ben turned from the stars to look at Poe, who smiled even wider, and Ben dropped his head in embarrassment. There was something in this smile that was different. As his best friend, Ben had long since catalogued each and every one of Poe’s smiles. There was the giant, toothy grin that Poe gave when he genuinely found something funny, the almost pained grimace whenever someone made a bad joke but Poe felt obligated to smile anyway, and the sad quirk of his lips, the smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, whenever he tried to put on a brave face for Ben. But this smile was different.

It was just as full of as affection as always, but it was tinged with something else. Something strange and almost exotic and it set his belly all aflutter. This fluttering feeling only increased when he felt the warm, dry pads of Poe’s fingers underneath his chin. After being friends for so many years, Ben knew Poe’s hands just as well as his own. The way that the pinky was crooked just so after an incident involving the engine of an X-wing, the way that the nails were sharp and jagged from Poe biting them so that there was no space for grease to crawl under.

Ben had felt Poe’s hands on his skin before, of course. Not always this gently, playful punches to the arm, or the not-so-playful punch to the nose that he had deserved after making a particularly crass comment about Poe’s friend Jessika Pava. But there was something in the air, something intimate about being in such close quarters in the cockpit, something alluring about the illusive illumination from the stars, that gave this all-too ephemeral moment an ethereal feel.

When the dry pad of Poe’s thumb brushed against Ben’s lower lip, the heat of it burned, and he ran the tip of his tongue against the trail the other boy’s finger had left to soothe it. Ben’s gaze flicked up reflexively when he heard Poe’s gasp, meeting his stare from under lowered lashes. This time, Poe was the one to look away, yanking his hand back and folding his hands neatly in his lap as he did so.

Ben was staggered for a moment at the sudden loss of contact, feeling bare and bereft. Once his brain caught up with the information, his shoulders had sunk and he slunk down further into his seat, his long legs cramped in the small space beneath the console. He could sense the turmoil roiling off the other boy in waves, and knowing that he had been the cause of so much distress for his friend made Ben want to shrink into nothing, or to maybe jettison himself out amongst the stars.

He did his best not to pry into his friend’s mind, but Poe was thinking so loudly that he couldn’t help but overhear.

Stupid.

Ben had hung his arms insouciantly over the back of his chair after the Incident over the console, but now he folded them protectively in front of his chest. He knew that eavesdroppers never hear well of themselves, but he hadn’t meant to hear, honestly. All the same, it still hurt to hear his best friend calling him stupid, even if it was within the supposed privacy of his own mind. Poe’s personal thoughts should have been just that--personal.

Suddenly, the cockpit felt so much more constricting, more constraining than it had just a moment before. The air was too hot, and it felt sticky, cloying his lungs with the physically palpable tension. The stars before him were suddenly so less interesting, instead it was the vast void of nothingness that drew his attention. There was so much liberty, so much opportunity out there. He could run away from it all, from his parents, from his best friend who thought he was stupid.

Pfsaak it.

Ben hardly had time to parse Poe’s thought before Ben felt his hands on his face, turning it towards Poe, and then shockingly suddenly, their lips were touching. This wasn’t anything like the first time it had happened, just another accident in the confines of the cockpit. No, this time there was intent. It was chaste, and so so sweet, just a dry brush of their lips. Their faces were close enough that Ben could smell Poe’s shampoo--it was something sweet and fruity, a scent that made him happy. If Ben’s eyes hadn’t closed reflexively when Poe pressed his lips against his, he would have seen the intent way that Poe was staring at his face, gauging each infinitesimally minute reaction.

Or, lack of reaction, rather. Besides closing his eyes and reaching for Poe’s wrists with his own arms, Ben hadn’t reacted at all. Rather than letting it discourage him, however, Poe let it steel his resolve, and swiped his tongue tentatively against Ben’s bottom lip, tracing the exact same route that his thumb had taken just moments before.

When Ben opened his mouth in a gasp, Poe took the opportunity to hesitantly explore, just darting the tip of his tongue inside until he met the resistance of Ben’s teeth, before withdrawing it and pressing his lips harder against Ben’s. They remained like that for what felt like a little slice of eternity, just breathing against each-other, Poe half out of his seat and half in Ben’s lap, floating out amongst the stars.


End file.
